Prognostic Value of the miRNA-27a and PPAR/RXRα Signaling Axis in Patients with Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

The authors aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of miRNA-27a (miR-27a), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha/gamma (PPARα/γ) and retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRα) tissue expression in patients with thyroid carcinoma. The expression levels were quantified in 174 archived thyroid specimens using real-time quantitative PCR. Downregulation of miR-27a was associated with lymph node stage and multifocality. PPARα expression was associated with histopathological type, tumor size and lymph node invasion. Moreover, RXRα expression was lower in patients who underwent total/subtotal thyroidectomy or received radioactive iodine treatment. Patients with upregulated miR-27a and downregulated RXRα showed a higher frequency of advanced lymph node stage and relapse by cluster analysis. Both miR-27a and PPARα/RXRα showed association with different poor prognostic indices in thyroid cancer patients.

Graphical abstract

Keywords::

• bioinformatics analysis
• cluster analysis
• gene expression
• miRNA-27a
• PPAR
• prognosis
• qRT-PCR
• RXR
• thyroid carcinoma

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/epi-2020-0167

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Center of Excellence in Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Oncology Diagnostic Unit, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt, for providing the facilities for performing the research. The authors also thank all participants who agreed to participate in the current study.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents, received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Data sharing statement

The raw data used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.